1、Unit Six:A Days WaitTextErnest Hemingways story is about an incident that happens between a father and his son. The small boys misunderstanding of the difference in measuring temperature on a Fahrenheit and a Celsius Scale causes him to believe that he is drying of a high fever. However, the father
2、doesnt realize it until very late that dayA Days WaitErnest HemingwayHe came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.“Whats the matter, Schatz?“Ive got a headache.“You
3、better go back to bed.“No. Im all right.“You go to bed. Ill be you when Im dressed.“But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.“You go up to bed,“ I said, “Youre sick.“I
4、m all right,“ he said.When the doctor came be took the boys temperature.“Whats is it?“ I asked him.“One hundred and two.“Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules with instruction for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative, the thi
5、rd to overcome an acid condition. The germs of influenza can only exist in an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about influenza and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light epidemic of flu and there was no da
6、nger if you avoided pneumonia.Back in the room I wrote the boys temperature down and made a note of the time to give the various capsules.“Do you want me to read to you?“All right. If you want to, “ said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the b
7、ed and seemed very detached from what was going on.I read aloud from Howard Pyles Book of pirates; but I could see he was not following what I was reading.“How do you feel, Schatz?“ I asked him.“Just the same, so far,“ he said.I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to
8、be time to give another capsule. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.“Why dont you try to sleep? Ill make you up for the medicine.“Id rather stay awake.“After a while he said to me, “You dont have to st
9、ay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you.“It doesnt bother me.“No, I mean you dont have to stay if its going to bother you.“I though perhaps he was a little lightheaded and after giving him the prescribed capsules at eleven oclock I went out for a while. It was a bright, cold day, the ground cove
10、red with a sleet that had frozen so that it seemed as if all the bare trees, the bushes, the cut brush and all the grass and the bare ground had been varnished with ice, I took the young Irish setter for a walk up the road and along a frozen creek, but it was difficult to stand or walk on the glassy
11、 surface and the red dog slipped and slithered and I fell twice, hard, once dropping my gun and having it slide away over the ice.We flushed a covey of quail under a high clay bank with overhanging brush and I killed two as they went out of sight over the top of the blank. Some of the covey lit in t
12、rees, but most of them scattered into brush piles and it was necessary to jump on the ice-coated mounds of brush several times before they would flush. Coming out while you were poised unsteadily on the icy, springy brush they made difficult shooting and I killed two, missed five, and started back p
13、leased to have found a covey close to the house and happy there were so many left to find on another day.At the house they said the boy had refused to let anyone come into the room.“You cant come in,“ he said. “You mustnt get what I have.“I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had
14、left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks flushed by the fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.I took his temperature.“What is it?“Something like a hundred,“ I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.“It was a hundred and two,“ he said.“Who said so?“The
15、 doctor.“Your temperature is all right,“ I said. “Its nothing to worry about.“I dont worry,“ he said, “but I cant keep from thinking.“Dont think,“ I said. “Just take it easy.“Im taking it easy,“ he said and looked straight ahead, He was evidently holding tight onto himself about something.“Take this
16、 with water.“Do you think it will do any good?“Of course it will.“I sat down and opened the Pirate book and commenced to read, but I could see he was not following, so I stooped.“About what time do you think Im going to die?“ he asked.“What?“About how long will it be before I die?“You arent going di
17、e. Whats the matter with you? “Oh, yes, I am, I heard him say a hundred and two.“People dont die with a fever of one hundred and two. Thats a silly way to talk.“I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you cant live with forty-four degrees. Ive got a hundred and two.“He had been waiting
18、to die all day, ever since nine oclock in the morning.“You poor Schatz,“ I said. “Poor old Schatz. Its like miles and kilometers. You arent going to die. Thats different thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind its ninety-eight.“Are you sure?“Absolutely,“ I said, “Its li
19、ke miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?“Oh,“ he said.But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were
20、 of no importance.NEW WORDSshivervi. shake, tremble, esp. from cold or fear 战栗，发抖capsulen. 胶囊（药）instructionn. (often pl.) advice on how to do sth.; order 用法说明；指示instruct vt.purgativen. a medicine to produce bowel movements 泻药acida. sour; marked by an abnormally high concentration of a sour substance
21、 酸的；酸性物质过多的germn. 病菌，细菌influenzan. a contagious disease which is like a bad cold but more serious 流行性感冒epidemicn. separate, not connected 超然的；冷漠的；分离的detach vt.piraten. a person who attacks and robs ships at sea 海盗papan. fatherlightheadeda. unable to think clearly or move steadily as during fever or
22、after drinking alcohol; dizzy and faint 神志不清的；眩晕的prescribevt. order or give(sth.) as a medicine or treatment for a sick person 开（药）sleetn. a mixture of rain and snow; rain that freezes as it falls 雨夹雪；冻雨brushn. rough low-growing bushes; small branches broken off from trees 矮灌木丛；断落的树枝varnishvt. cover
23、 (sth.) with a smooth appearanceIrisha. 爱尔兰（人）的settern. a type of dog with red hair; a hunting dog 塞特狗creekn. a small stream glassya. like glass, esp. (of water) smooth and shiningslithervi. slide unsteadily 不稳地滑动slidev. (cause to) move smoothly along a surface （使）滑动flushv. drive (birds) up from the
24、 trees or bushes so as to shoot; (of birds) fly up suddenly （使）（鸟）惊飞(sides of the face) become rosy or reddened by a sudden flow of blood to the face （脸）发红coveyn. a small flock or group (of small birds) 一小群（鸟）quail (pl. quail or quails)n. a kind of small bird, valued as food 鹌鹑overhangv. hang over o
25、r stand out over 悬于之上，突出于之上light (lit or lighted)vi. land and settle 停落scattervi go off in all directions 散开moundn. small hill; a large pile of earth, stones, etc. 土墩poisevt. balanceunsteadilyad. shakilyunsteady a.icya. covered with ice; extremely coldspringya. flexible (as a spring moving up and do
26、wn)有弹性的commencevt. start; beginthermometern. a instrument for measuring and snowing temperature 温度计absolutelyad. completely; certainlygazevi. look long and steadily 凝视slacka. not tense; relaxed 松弛的；放松的PHRASES cause to fall 减少，降低be detached fromshow no interest in, be indifferent towould ratherwould prefer to; would prefer that 宁愿out of sightunable to be seen keep fromprevent oneself from (doing sth.); stop (doing sth.)take it easynot to work too hard; not to worry too much 不紧张，不急hold tight onto oneselfkeep firm control over oneselfPROPER NAMEPyle派尔（姓氏）
